


Getting Comfortable

by FleetofShippyShips



Series: Harry Potter and the Maudlin Merman [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Creature Biology, Creature Fic, Discussing Physical Intimacy, Don't copy to another site, Established Relationship, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, M/M, Merman Draco, Merpeople, Open Ending, Post-Hogwarts, body issues
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2019-10-31
Packaged: 2021-01-15 21:49:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21260174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FleetofShippyShips/pseuds/FleetofShippyShips
Summary: Harry brings a basket of food down to the jetty in the evening. Draco opens up a little more about what he wants.





	Getting Comfortable

“What are you hiding behind your back?”

Harry tapped the side of his nose as he strolled down the jetty to the end. It was earlier than he usually visited, but he wasn’t intending on attending dinner at the castle that night. He’d also made sure to do all his marking early so he could spend the early evening with Draco too.

“I could just swim along the side of the jetty and see for myself, you know,” Draco huffed. “Faster than you’d be able to turn around to keep it hidden.”

With an amused snort from the imagery of that kind of game with Draco, Harry shook his head and pulled the basket out from behind his back. It was small, but it had an internal expansion charm on it. He set it down near the edge of the jetty so Draco could haul himself up and be nosy if he wanted, and then he proceeded to take off his shoes, socks, and trousers.

He was not making the mistake of rolling up his trousers only for Draco to get it in his head to be a prat and yank them down into the water while he dangled his feet over the edge. Once was enough to never bother again. It wasn’t as though drying charms were difficult, but if he could avoid getting his clothes wet in the first place, that was preferable.

And he wasn’t going to lie to himself, he enjoyed the way Draco looked at him whenever he shed layers.

While he sat down on the edge of the jetty to dip his feet in, Draco hauled himself up to sit awkwardly on the edge himself, splashing water everywhere. He immediately started digging through the basket, giving Harry the opportunity to look him over.

Over the weeks, Draco had only become more comfortable with Harry looking at his tail. He still got snappy sometimes, but for the most part, he let Harry look unhindered. 

It hadn’t become any less beautiful for all that Harry could now look his fill. Draco’s iridescent blue scales still caught the light in breathtaking ways. The fade of the scales into skin at his hips was still beautiful, almost like rough brushstrokes on canvas. If the paint was coarse, at least. But if the scales and skin there were anything like the patches of scales that surrounded Draco’s gills, then it would be smooth. 

Like the last few times he’d looked, he found his attention lingered on the skin between Draco’s hips, deceptively coloured and patterned to look like scales when it was really the same kind of skin as what formed his gill flaps.

Sometimes he wondered, if he looked hard enough, if Draco stayed still long enough, if the light was favourable enough, if Harry might find a flattened slit there. Draco might believe he had no genitalia now, but Harry wasn’t convinced. There must be _ something_.

“Just because I don’t have bits doesn’t mean I won’t smack you for ogling me down there,” Draco huffed.

Harry looked up to find himself on the receiving end of an irritated and defensive look. “It’s such a pity it doesn’t feel the same when you touch your own scales,” he said, reaching into the basket himself and pulling out various plates and dishes. “I imagine it would make spending all day stuck in a lake more amusing.”

And then maybe he’d find out what was hiding in that patterned skin if Draco knew more about it himself.

Draco made an irritated sound, but didn’t engage. “I can’t believe you came down for a picnic with a mermaid. You sad sod.”

“Mer-_man_,” Harry corrected. 

“Muggles call them all mermaids, and this stupid cursed tail is modelled after them so...”

Harry shook his head and wriggled his toes under the water. Maybe showing Draco images and stories about muggle mermaids had not been wise. He’d just been so shocked that no one had. It was obvious that the curse he’d been put under was inspired by muggle mermaids, not the kind of magical merpeople Harry had seen in the lake.

“Most tales are about girls, that’s why. They call male ones mer_men _.”

It wasn’t the first time he’d told him. It wouldn’t be the last. Draco may have got it into his head to persist with those jokes, but at least it had got him talking about the curse and his tail more openly.

Draco grumbled under his breath but it was too low for Harry to understand. He could guess though. But Draco’s posture was getting more defensive, and he’d probably slip back into the lake and swim off if Harry pushed.

“I told Hagrid not to worry about bringing you food tonight,” Harry said, unloading the basket between them and pushing it out of the way. 

Draco surveyed the spread. “This isn’t dinner.”

“I’m an adult, if I want to have dessert for dinner I will,” Harry snorted.

“How mature,” Draco said, rolling his eyes at him. “You do realise Hagrid doesn’t bring me every meal though, right? He keeps several in a box with stasis charms and just takes it back to the house elves to fill when it gets empty.”

It was the first time Draco had volunteered information about any of the arrangements he had with anyone else and Harry struggled not to gawk at him. It had been a long time now since they’d started talking, and weeks since they’d started their tentative relationship, but he still found himself off balance whenever Draco volunteered information about his situation.

It was a constant battle not to bombard him with questions the moment he did.

“I do tend to eat all the treats right away though, and don’t get any more for a week,” Draco added quietly, reaching for a plate of little fruit tarts.

Harry sat up straighter, pleased he’d guessed that Draco still had the ridiculous sweet tooth he’d had all through school.

“You know, with all your insensitive and rude questions about my bits, I’m surprised you never assumed I just eat raw fish in the lake,” Draco muttered, before cramming an entire mini tart into his mouth.

“I might have, if I hadn’t heard from Hagrid first,” Harry admitted sheepishly as he watched Draco find another treat to devour. 

Even though there was more than enough for them both, he had sneaked down to the kitchens during the free period before his last class and eaten then. He wouldn’t really be hungry for hours, and maybe he could take what Draco didn’t eat now over to Hagrid to put with the rest of Draco’s food.

He quickly made a mental note to bring Draco more sweets when he visited.

“Please tell me you haven’t discussed my bits with bloody Hagrid!”

The look of outrage on Draco’s face kept Harry from laughing outright at the idea, but it was close. Of all the ideas to jump to.

“No, I haven’t talked to Hagrid about _ any _ of this,” Harry said quickly. “And he hasn’t asked either, though I know he’s wondering why you wanted to talk to me.”

Draco’s outrage morphed into something defensive again, and Harry wanted to curse himself.

“I thought he looked a bit thrown when I asked him to get that message to you a while back,” Draco said slowly, looking Harry over. “It’s not just Hagrid, is it? You haven’t told anyone you come down here to talk to me. What in Merlin’s name do they think you do when you disappear?”

Heat rushed to Harry’s face. He was fairly sure most of them had figured it out now. He probably had Draco to thank for that actually, from that time he’d put kelp in Harry’s satchel when he wasn’t looking and Harry had discovered it only later in the staff room.

“They know. But you’re right, I haven’t said anything.”

“Ashamed to be friends with the Death Eater fish-man?” Draco said bitingly, his whole body tensing in preparation for sliding into the water for a quick getaway.

“No,” Harry said quickly. “I just...it isn’t for them. I don’t want...this is just between us.”

Draco stared at him with a frightening intensity. That look always made Harry think he was using Legilimency without Harry noticing.

“I don’t want to deal with the questions they would obviously have,” Harry added quietly. “It’s none of their business.”

After staring at him for a few more moments, Draco grabbed a small fork Harry had put out and a plate with a slice of cheesecake. He stared out over the lake while he ate, and Harry tried to calm his racing heart.

Maybe he should be more open about his friendship-turned-_something _ with Draco, but he had a feeling a lot of people might have certain opinions about it and he just didn’t want to hear it. His life was _ his _ life, and he was done letting anyone else tell him what they thought best for him.

“You know,” Draco said sometime later, after finishing the slice of cheesecake and putting the plate back down, “it’s not like we can’t do some things.”

He kept his gaze out over the lake, and Harry quickly looked out over the water too so his scrutiny wouldn’t make Draco change his mind about whatever he was saying.

The light was beginning to fade. He’d have to light his wand and prop it up somewhere soon. It was a pity it wasn’t a full moon again yet. He couldn’t wait to see Draco glow again now that he would let him look.

“There’s nothing wrong with _ you _ , I could easily get _ you _ off,” Draco continued, in an oddly conversational tone. Harry forgot his reasons for looking away and whipped his head around to gape at him. “You know, I could probably blow you underwater actually.”

If there was an appropriate response to that, Harry couldn't think of it. He really couldn’t think of anything. Draco didn’t even look at him. Instead, he kept talking.

“I’ve thought about it a lot. Not all that much else to do. You get hard every time we kiss for any decent amount of time. I don’t mind sorting that out for you. In fact, I’ve been waiting for you to ask.”

There were a lot of thoughts vying for attention in Harry’s mind. Most of which were still about the notion of Draco blowing him _ underwater_.

“But I suppose you’re too noble for that, since I won’t let you touch below my waist,” Draco added, finally turning to look at him. “I imagine the lack of reciprocation bothers you.”

Harry made a sound that was somewhat affirmative.

“Yes, I thought so,” Draco mused, looking him over again. 

There was weight to his gaze, and Harry’s mind was a mess trying to catch up and comprehend how openly Draco was talking about this when he’d been so closed off before. That didn’t stop heat rushing south. 

Too much heat.

Without pausing to think it through, Harry tore off his shirt and pushed himself off the jetty and into the water.

Draco joined him immediately and hauled him up before he had a chance to surface himself, like always. For all that he was teaching Harry to swim, he never did like Harry being in the water unless he was right there with him, preferably holding his arm at the very least.

When he moved them back over so Harry could grab the edge of the jetty to stay afloat without tiring himself out, he looked at him incredulously.

“That’s your response to me offering to satisfy you sexually? Jumping in the fucking lake?”

Harry’s face burned. Incredulity was a better reaction than what it could be. He was lucky he hadn’t scared Draco into a fit of low self-esteem.

“Who just brings that up? That’s...bloody hell, Draco,” Harry hissed, smoothing his hair back from his face and then letting go of the jetty. 

As he swam around the side and towards the shore, Draco stayed by his side, watching warily as he drifted through the water with graceful ease. Normally it would have pissed Harry off, since he was at least at the point he could swim from the end of the jetty to the shore without drowning himself. But it was hard to be pissed off when the cool dive into the lake hadn’t abated the heat in his groin in the slightest and he could still only think about Draco’s words.

It was true, every time they kissed, often for probably ridiculous lengths of time, he did always get hard, but he never really expected Draco to do anything about it. Not when he was so terrified of Harry touching anywhere near where his own bits might be hiding.

The shore near the jetty was sandy, with fewer stones than other areas, and Harry crawled up until he could lie on his back with the water only lapping at his upper body. Of course, he managed to lie his head down on one of the few stones and tried to shift without Draco noticing and laughing at him. He was going to get sand all in his hair again. He’d have to make sure he didn’t bump into any of his colleagues on the way back to his quarters later. 

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about it, you know,” Draco said, as he hauled himself up next to Harry and lay on his side with his head propped up by one hand. He looked casual and at ease in a way that immediately irritated Harry. That wasn’t fair in the slightest. “It’s not like you’d be using me. I want to do it.”

“You’ve had a long time to think about it but you couldn’t think of a better way to bring it up? Like maybe _ while _ we were kissing, when if might have been, I don’t know, a more natural progression?”

Draco scowled at him. “I’m not exactly thinking clearly then, I’d be just as likely to ask you to touch _ me_.”

Harry pushed himself up to his elbows and gaped at him. “What?”

Draco’s face flushed pink. The colour travelled down his neck until the patches of scales and his gills started to look purple. He jerked his tail and set water splashing everywhere, but Harry refused to be distracted.

“I thought you never wanted me to touch you below your waist,” he said carefully, wanting to sit up but turning onto his side instead to stay even with Draco and not loom over him. 

Draco’s tail thrashed about again, but he didn’t try to move away. “I don’t want to talk about that right now,” he said shortly. “I want to talk about how you get hard every time we kiss and the fact I want to do something about it. How do you feel about that? Is that something you want?”

The fact he had to ask was a little amusing, but Harry bit his lip to give himself time to think. Draco’s comment about wanting to be touched threw him completely off balance. He’d rather talk about that. His fingers still itched every time he saw Draco’s tail. He wanted to touch. He wanted to catalogue how it felt, the transition from skin to scales at his hips. The transition from human skin to _ different _ skin below his belly. 

But Draco still thought he had no genitals, and just because Harry was sure they were there somewhere didn’t mean Draco would immediately be relieved once they were found. They wouldn’t be human, and that wouldn’t be easy.

But still, Harry ached to touch and discover and give Draco some pleasure after he’d been so long without any at all.

“I want that,” he admitted. “But I don’t _ need _ it. So you don’t have to.”

Draco splashed water everywhere with his tail. “Idiot, I just said I _ want _ to. It drives me mad feeling it against me and not being able to do anything about it. Being cursed this way didn’t get rid of my bloody libido. Or my desire for human men. I don’t suddenly want to fuck fish, you prat.”

There was a lot to unpack there, and if it hadn’t been for Draco’s admission of desire, Harry would have laughed about the fish comment. Instead, his mind stuttered around that and focused on Draco’s admission that he felt mad when he could feel Harry’s erection against him. It made him wonder what Draco would feel if there wasn’t always the fabric of Harry’s pants between them. Or did he already feel something from that and just not say anything? Could that be why he was now mentioning he might ask Harry to touch him if dared say anything while they were snogging?

“And yes, _ men_,” Draco added with a scoff while Harry continued to struggle to think of a response. “Desiring you was only surprising because it’s _ you_. I’ve never had an interest in women, so the idea of touching your cock is not in the least bit unusual or uncomfortable for me. In fact, I had fantasies about it back when I still hated you. Back when I was completely human. So don’t even go there. I know what I want, this conversation is about what _ you _ want and whether _ you _ want me to touch you.”

Harry inhaled slowly and tried to think past his surprise at all of that. Particularly the revelation Draco had fantasised about him before he’d ever been dumped in the lake. That was...he wasn’t sure what to think about that. 

“Fine, don’t answer me now,” Draco huffed, rolling onto his back and smacking the water with his tail again. “You don’t have to say anything now. Just think about it.”

“I don’t have to think about it,” Harry said, moving closer until he was pressed up against Draco’s side. “I never have to think about that. I always want you. Of course I want you to touch me. I just...I don’t like that I can’t touch you back. It doesn’t seem fair and even if you say it’s not using you, I’d still feel like I was somehow using you, even though I know why you don’t want me to touch you. And I do respect that you don’t want me to touch you.”

Draco closed his eyes and covered his face. He groaned loudly. “Of course I want you to touch me, you _ idiot_. But neither of us knows what the hell you’ll find, _ if _ you’ll find anything at all, and I don’t...I can’t...”

Harry shushed him and pulled his hands away. “Okay, okay. Forget I said that. That wasn’t fair.”

With a loud snort, Draco slapped Harry’s hands away. “Nothing about this is fair. This isn’t my fucking body. This wasn’t supposed to be my life. One of _ your _ side did this to me and even if I did deserve it, it’s still not _ fair_.”

Harry reached out and grabbed Draco’s chin, turning his head sharply to look at him. “We’ve talked about this. You did _ not _ deserve this!” he snapped. “Don’t ever say that. I know I never talk about trying to fix this, but I assume you’ve already tried everything, and I’m sure as hell not smarter than you so I don’t want to insult you by—”

Draco cut him off by kissing him. He grabbed him by his hair and pulled him close until Harry was huffing out an angry exhale against his cheek for being interrupted. But he still kissed back. He could never stop himself. 

The light was fading fast, and Harry’s wand was back on the jetty. That didn’t stop him from kissing back. From biting Draco’s lips and sucking his tongue and slotting their lips together again and again until he felt dizzy.

Draco could shut him up with kisses whenever he liked. Harry knew he sometimes said the wrong thing and brought things up that were better left alone. A kiss from Draco would always be better than a face full of water as he swam away instead.

It wasn’t the first time they’d kissed as the light faded, until it was dark and silent save for their breathing and the gently lapping of water against the jetty or shore.

But it was the first time Harry felt overly aware of the swell of his cock. Of Draco’s hands clutching at his hair or his shoulder _ so _ tightly. Like he was holding back from touching him. And when Harry thought back, that suddenly made so much sense. All those times Draco had clutched at him so tightly, obviously to stop himself from doing more but Harry had never realised. 

With barely a thought, Harry parted their lips and breathed, “Touch me, please.”

He could give Draco that. And maybe, after everything they’d talked about, all those things Draco had let slip, maybe it wouldn’t be too long until Draco felt comfortable enough to say the same to him.

**Author's Note:**

> Been spamming my poor subs by releasing all my shitty 3yr-old fics out of my hidden collection this week so I thought I better post something a little more recent XD though I have been sitting on this for months now, whoops.
> 
> **This is a completed oneshot, please do not ask me to write more. As always, this series is more just a collection of me dabbling in this verse than a planned out series with a plot.**
> 
> Beta'd by OTPshipper98 =)


End file.
